The Oscars are a big deal in the Riley house. Meg and I try to see as many of the nominated movies as we can each year. We had to pull a movie doubleheader last Friday, but we managed to see all 10 Best Picture nominees this year. Overall, I thought it was a particularly strong group of movies.
My personal favorite was Inception, but I have no problem with the The King's Speech winning Best Picture. I do think it's ridiculous that Christopher Nolan wasn't nominated for Best Director. Other than Nolan's omission, I'd say the Academy pretty much got it right though.
I wanted Exit Through the Gift Shop to win Best Documentary, mostly to see what Banksy would do. I was hoping for some street art shenanigans. By all accounts, The Inside Job is a deserving winner, and I'm looking forward to watching it.
The acting awards were foregone conclusions this year. Colin Firth was brilliant. He is now officially America's favorite Brit. I just hope he doesn't wind up in any more Bridget Jones movies. Natalie Portman winning Best Actress makes sense, but Black Swan was probably my least favorite of the ten Best Picture nominees. The Fighter was a great movie, and Christain Bale and Melissa Leo were spot-on in their Bostonness. I think the moral is, do a convincing Boston accent and Oscar will come a callin. Well, unless your Marky Mark, whose Boston accent wasn't nearly as authentic, despite actually being from Boston. All this Boston talk reminds me, if you haven't checked out this mashup of Boston movies, do yourself a favor, give it a look.
Speaking of Melissa Leo, her F bomb was the only interesting thing about the whole show. I liked her a lot in Frozen River a couple years ago, but she reached a whole new level after that little acceptance speech of hers.
I'm sure I'm in a very small minority on this one, but I was disappointed there was no lifetime achievement award. I like a little history mixed in with the awards.
I don't normally get very excited about the Best Score, but I was very happy that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won for their score of the social network. I haven't been able to get that little piano riff out of my head since I saw the movie.
I don't know who thought James Franco and Anne Hathaway would be good hosts, but I would hope they will not be involved in planning next year's show. Award shows should be required to have stand-up comedians as hosts. I was actually hoping Billy Crystal was brought in to replace Franco and Hathaway, but alas, no such luck.
Even though the show wasn't great, it was a fun night. Watching the Oscars is something Meg and I enjoy together, and that's always the best part.
I love your last paragraph ~ yes that is the best part.
ReplyDeleteDid you like Winter's Bone? We saw it on the weekend and I had mixed feelings about it. It was touching but I kept wondering about the authenticity of the portrayal of the Ozarks and its people.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see The King's Speech.
And p.s., I've given you an award at my blog.
Like you said.
ReplyDeleteI missed the Oscars this year but like you I love watching it. Unlike you though, I haven't had a chance to watch any of the films....not even The King's Speech which probably makes me the only person in England who hasn't seen it
ReplyDeletecool post. Interesting how Melissa made Oscars history. You would have thought someone else would have said the f word in that time. i would have.
ReplyDeleteAh, The Oscars. I used to be able to say what you did: that I've seen all the nominated movies. Unfortunately, the last 10 years (wow! has it really been that long?) I've lost touch. I haven't seen any of the movies. But now that we have our Roku and Netflix, we'll be catching up.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Melissa Leo, I only know her from one of my all time favorite TV series, Homicide: Life On the Streets. I don't remember her acting being too outstanding then, but I was probably to taken with the duos of Pemberton/Bayliss and Kellerman/Lewis. I miss that show.
If I ever won an oscar, they'd need a 30 second delay. I loved her "outburst" - just because it was so genuine. I want to puke when I listen to some of those speeches.
ReplyDeleteI do enoy the family time, which the Oscars represent in our family but I did find it rather dull and predictable. Besides, unlike you, I didn't get to see all the movies first so I didn't have the feeling of being invested in the results.
ReplyDeleteThe Oscars were terribly boring. No surprises whatsoever in the major categories. I have only seen Social Network and Inceptions so I didn't really care. I will watch the King's Speech some day but there is no chance I will like it better than Inception. I LOVED that movie. I just got it in from Netflix yesterday to watch again. And you're right, leaving Nolan out oft he best director noms was stupid.
ReplyDelete